Review: Once Upon a Time Pilot- Minimal Spoilers

Once Upon A Time, there was a world of fairy tales that was cursed into a world where happily ever after did not exist. That world is our world. That is the premises of the new ABC show Once Upon a Time. Starting out with the ending of the known tale of Snow White and moving forward to where the witch makes her threat at the wedding of Snow White and Prince Charming (yes, those are their names as of now). Think the opening scene of Sleeping Beauty and you’ve got the right idea. The show bounces between two realms, the Fairy Tale world and our world.

The Fairy Tale world, as to be expected, is full of many of the tales we are familiar with, Snow White, Pinocchio, Little Red Riding Hood, and even Rumpelstiltskin. The only part of the Fairy Tale world that irked me was the kissing. ‘It will be alright’ and dramatic kissing between Snow White and Prince Charming is very over-done. Luckily the acting isn’t too over the top, but I think part of the dramatics was to emphasize the idea of a Fairy Tale world. The Fairy Tale Realm’s storyline, this episode, is just background information that could have been told throughout the episode without the flashbacks and switching realms; however, from the looks of the preview for next week’s episode my opinion may change.

Our world is where the real story is happening, and is where Emma is shown to be the link between story lines. She’s pulled into the town of Storybrooke by a child claiming to be her son Henry, who she gave up for adoption ten years ago. He convinces her to bring him back to the town and tells her that the town has been placed under a curse. The Curse is that everyone, including her, are characters from his book. Time has been frozen, people have forgotten who they truly are, and only she can save them. Henry begs for her to spend a week there and she will see that he’s not making up a story. Emma decides to give it a chance after a few run-ins with Henry’s adopted mother, and gets herself a room at Granny’s Bed and Breakfast.

The character similarities are obvious between the worlds allowing for the view to easily keep track and not become overwhelmed with a large cast. Even with some of the clichés and cheesiness, the storyline was enough to catch my attention. The series seems to be leaning towards a darker version of the fair tales than most of us are used to, similar to the Brothers Grimm version of the stories. It was intriguing enough that I will continue to watch the series to see where it goes and what spin the writers give it.